KPOP's Positive Influence on Teens

KPOP is a budding musical genre that took over the world in just 10 years. However, the form that currently exists is completely different than the original style of KPOP. Before Seo Taiji and Boys brought out the new style of KPOP in the 1970s, KPOP was mostly for older people.

Jeany Zhang

KPOP'S POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON TEENS

By Jeany Zhang

KPOP is a budding musical genre that took over the world in just 10 years. However, the form that currently exists is completely different than the original style of KPOP. Before Seo Taiji and Boys brought out the new style of KPOP in the 1970s, KPOP was mostly for older people. After the new form of KPOP exploded in 2010 the introduction of a large variety of groups such as BLACK PINK, and EXO. The fans become so overwhelmed by their idol groups that older generations begin to relegate this. However, if you keep a good distance between you and your idol it can be beneficial.

EXO's 'Imagine Your Korea' campaign for the Korean Tourism Organization.

One of the strongest ways idols has influenced fans is to bring out their creativity. Many fans want to post their creative artworks on social media in order to promote them to other people. There are many types of artwork fans can choose to do such as turning pictures of their idol into cute cartoon characters or adding their own style to make their idol look cool or aesthetic. This form of promoting their idols is called fan art. Another way is creating remixes of their idol groups' songs or creating original songs for their idol group. Yet, fans need to learn how to draw and edit first before they can show it to others so they learn it. KPOP also contributed tremendously to South Korea's tourism. Many people want to come to this country as tourists, exchange students, and job seekers to learn Korean and become more connected to their favorite idol groups.

Support song created by Nine Percent's Fans

KPOP still has many things to improve. As previously stated, older generations abhor fans that are obsessed with their idol group. For example, extreme fans would take their idol group's losses and gains personally against other KPOP groups. For example, they would comment with venomous

words, stalk other fans in their fandom, and even send threats to them expressing their hatred. Even though this is a common scene between the extreme fans, not all fans are like that. The more rational ones take the chance of different groups competing as a way to be more open-minded in learning about each other's differences and more confident in sharing their own. It’s also a way to “embed a sense of team spirits” (EML stories) between fans.

In conclusion, everything has its good and bad sides depending on the way you look at it. Same as the KPOP music culture, as long as you keep a good distance between you and your idol it is easy for you to improve different sides of yourself. I choose this topic because I have been following KPOP and Mandarin Pop music for many years and is something I care about to the point that I want to share it with all of you. KPOP musical culture would definitely expand in these years and hopefully, as the popularity grows so does its beneficial level. There would be a day when everyone has a special place for KPOP in their heart no matter the extreme level.

Citations: Shalini Shreyshkar, “KPOP and its influence on the youth” BuddingPsychologists.org, 2020 https://buddingpsychologists.org/kpop-and-its-influence-on-theyouth/#:~:text=KPOP%20also%20helps%20people's%20inner,completely%20outside%20their%2 0career%20prospects. Accessed 23 August 2022.